PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS

Church-wide fast helps pay the debts of Howard University seniors

VIRGINIA CHURCH INVESTS IN FUTURE LEADERS & CONNECTIONS TO HBCUs

The new assistant minister needed an idea.

Alfred Street Baptist Church was already a week into a church-wide fast. Fully half of the 8,000-member historically black congregation in Alexandria, Virginia, had committed to giving up nonessential spending and contributing to a special outreach offering at the end of January.

In the first month of his first job after graduating from Duke Divinity School last year, the Rev. Marc Lavarin had been tasked with organizing the fast, called Seek 2019. Fasters would give without knowing in advance how their gift would be used, except that it would help neighbors in need.

So Lavarin was searching for an idea to tie up that one last detail -- how would the church use the money?

As he prayed in his office, a cause came to him: college students.

He worked quickly, connecting with the financial aid office at nearby Howard University, the historically black school in Washington, D.C. The plan, quickly blessed by church staff and the senior pastor, was for Alfred Street to pay off the debts of randomly selected seniors whose outstanding balances threatened to delay their graduation.

HOW & WHY

How -- and why -- one church organized its first corporate fast

Their three-week fast grew out of a calling discerned by the church's senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley. At a staff retreat last fall, he proposed a churchwide time of fasting and prayer that would show members "the power of the Spirit to control the flesh."

Corporate fasting was not a tradition at Alfred Street, but Wesley wanted to introduce his congregation to the ancient discipline. Members would be invited to give the money they saved through fasting to a special outreach offering.

The staff searched the calendar for a three-week period that would not conflict with holidays or some other food-related event. They picked January, a relatively slow time in the life of Alfred Street -- though life never truly slows at the church, where more than 70 full-time staff members serve some 8,000 congregants engaged in 75 ministries. In the church office, color-coded desk calendars try to bring order to the chaos of a busy, busy church.

The fast was not originally tied to Black History Month or the church's annual HBCU festival in early February, though the timing proved serendipitous. Most of the money contributed at the end of the fast went to help college students at nearby Howard University pay off their debts.

But the reason for the fast wasn't just to raise money. The new assistant minister who organized it, the Rev. Marc Lavarin, said that even before the post-fast offering, the senior pastor had been thinking that the church might hold a fast every year. The spiritual results alone would justify a new tradition.

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REGISTER FOR THE NEXT CHURCH NETWORK WEBINAR

Challenges Facing Church Security in the 21st Century

A Church Network Webinar

May 9, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. EDT

The 21st century has presented several challenges in many different areas including the reality and the need of church security. Many houses of worship and leaders have experienced a multitude of issues starting and maintaining a professional and efficient security and safety team. This training course will highlight some of these issues and offer simple, applicable solutions to them for maximum effectiveness concerning security issues. Topics covered in this webinar include:

The danger of denial
Lack of support from the house of worship leadership
Lack of Resources (Human and Financial)
Selecting the right people for your security team ministry
Balancing the spiritual and the tactical factor of security in houses of worship
The necessity of training and education
The importance of partnerships

Participants will gain important information on how to avoid and/or navigate through these challenges.

To learn more and register, visit The Church Network's webpage Â»

FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY

How Your Congregation Learns: The Learning Journey from Challenge to Achievement

by Tim Shapiro

Change isn't always easy or intuitive. How Your Congregation Learns introduces churches and leaders --both lay and ordained -- to the process of the learning journey. By understanding learning dynamics and working to become a learning community, the congregation will be able to move more purposefully to achieve its goals.

Congregations face many kinds of challenges. Some are mundane: the roof leaks; the parking lot needs repaving; the microphones don't work well. Some tests are transcendent: How should lives be honored? What is God calling the congregation to do and be? How can generosity be taught? Throughout life people face challenges for which they are not prepared -- the death of a parent, a new job offer, making a decision about where to live. So it goes that congregational leaders face challenges that are just beyond the grasp of their abilities. This book addresses the just-beyond-the-grasp challenges and shows how real congregations can learn from them.

Learn more and order the book Â»

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